Beautiful Redemption (novel)

Did You Know?

• Entertainment Weekly gave the book a 'B+' and noted that it did not disappoint.
• The Manila Bulletin panned Beautiful Redemption as having a 'lackluster ending' and stated that while all of the loose ends are tied, 'it comes at the cost of what made the first three books good.'

Plot

After his death, Ethan Wate wakes up in a version of Wate's Landing that exists in the Otherworld. He spots his mother there but feels a strong pull to be with Lena. To reach her, he starts leaving coded messages in the form of crossword puzzles in Gatlin's local paper, The Stars & Stripes. His Aunt Prue explains that his death was a mistake. The only way back to the Mortal world is to tear his own page out of The Caster Chronicles, a book held by the Keepers at the Gates of the Far Keep. To get there, he needs two perfect black stones called "river eyes" to cross the Great River, and then he must offer the Gatekeeper "something he can't refuse."

Ethan gets his first river eye from Sulla, a prophet among the Greats. Lena receives the second from her great-aunt Twyla. A crow named Exu, once owned by Uncle Abner, helps Ethan along the way because crows are the only animals that can move between worlds. With a map from Prue, Ethan finds the River Master and crosses the Great River. On the other side, he meets Xavier, the Gatekeeper. Xavier demands payment before showing the Gates. He reveals he was once a Keeper but was turned into a monster and forced to guard the Gates for questioning Angelus's experiments, which involved injecting Caster tissue and blood to become immortal.

When Ethan sees the Book of Stars, the Light counterpart to the Book of Moons, he realizes the safest hiding place for the Book of Moons is with Xavier. He sends another crossword puzzle to Lena, asking her to bring him the Book of Moons. Lena goes to Abraham Ravenwood, the last person known to have it. Abraham nearly kills Lena and John, but Macon Ravenwood and Link step in to save them. To get the book to Ethan, Macon turns to Amma. During their ritual, Genevieve Duchannes's Sheer appears and offers to help. Lena gives the book to Genevieve, who passes it to the Greats.

While waiting for the book, Ethan helps Xavier catalog his vast collection and slowly starts forgetting Lena. But when the Book of Moons finally arrives, his memories come rushing back. He offers the book to Xavier as payment, and Xavier leads him to the Gates.